I had for a while been meaning to revisit some of the squares with gardens that we visit less often and today was the day when I decided to do so.

Cafe tables in Chapel Market

I crossed through Chapel Market, noting that it was again closed to traffic so that the pub and the cafes could out out their tables. This arrangement will no doubt remain in force as long as the current rules do.

Cloudesley Road

Passing through Sainsbury’s car park, I entered Cloudesley Road (Culpeper Park is on the left, just visible in the photo) and thence to Batchelor Street.

Batchelor Street

This is the street, you may recall, along which you can see one if the towers of the old Royal Agricultural Hall. That building is in Liverpool Road and that is where I was heading.

(The origin of this street’s name is obscure. Up to 1815, it was known as Chapman Street and by 1845 had become Trinity Street. Around 1938, it finally became Batchelor Street, in memory of “a well-known businessman”.)

Pavement above street level

This end of Liverpool Road has the peculiarity that the pavement on one side is several feet above the level of the road surface. It has railings to stop you walking off the edge by accident.

Steps to the road

In case you want to cross the road or access a parked car. There are steps at intervals.

The cars that you see in the photo are parked in the designated parking lane. The lane nearest the pavement is reserved for cyclists. That seems to me a very clumsy arrangement but, then, I’m not an urban planner.

Old Royal Free Hospital

Opposite is the site of the old Royal Free Hospital, some of whose buildings still survive, albeit internally modified to turn them into residential blocks.

The Pig and Butcher
previously the White Horse

This pub served as a landmark to my destination. It stands on the corner of Theberton Street which leads to the first of today’s squares. (Theberton Street takes its name from Theberton Hall, Suffolk, the seat of Thomas Milner Gibson MP, 1806-84, whose name reappears below.)

Gibson Square

Branching off Theberton Street is the large and elegant Gibson Square with its central garden.

Gibson Square Gardens

Though not huge, the central gardens are well tended and provide a pleasant location in which to sit or stroll on a fine day. They also contain what might be described as a curiosity or a talking point. This is a building of rather fanciful design but of no obvious purpose.

What is it?

A strong clue to that purpose is provided by the “roof” which is not solid but made of wire mesh, obviously designed to allow something to pass in or out. This building is in fact a ventilation shaft for the Victoria Line, part of London Underground. This line was built in the 1960s and 1970s and needed ventilation. This curious design was arrived at as a way of pacifying local objections to the intrusion of the shaft into the gardens.

Milner Square

Walking along Milner Place from Gibson Square brought me to the second of today’s destinations, Milner Square. From the approach road, the gardens looked promising.

Milner Square Gardens

In the event, the gardens were somewhat disappointing, being taken up mainly with swings and other accoutrements of a children’s playground. I probably ought not to be disappointed as children need somewhere to play and it’s good to have an enclosed off-street area when they can play in safety.

Lonsdale Square

Following a couple of streets brought me to the third and final square, Lonsdale Square.

Lonsdale Square Gardens

Probably about the same size as Milner Square Gardens, though square rather than elongated, Lonsdale Square Gardens are “proper” gardens and well kept.

Houses in Lonsdale Square

Lonsdale Square is arguably the “poshest” of the three squares. The houses are larger and have more elaborate façades, as well as doors shaped in a rather “ecclesiastical” style.

Lonsdale Place and Square were possibly named after the Earl of Lonsdale.

Holy Trinity Church, Cloudesley Square

Looking at the map on my phone, I found a different way to return home. This took me first to Cloudesly Square, where Holy Trinity Church is still undergoing refurbishment.

Cloudesley Street

From the square, I entered Cloudesley Street, a long, straight road that brought me close to home.

Despite being a quiet backstreet and, moreover, closed to traffic at one end, this street is quite broad. I doubt whether this is because it was ever a busy thoroughfare and think that its width has more to do with the visual appeal of the street’s layout in what must have been an expensive, genteel neighbourhood.

Built in 1839, this street and all the others bearing the name, are named in honour of Richard Cloudesley (d. 1517), a local benefactor under whose will the still extant charity, called simply “Cloudesley“, was founded.

Dove’s Yard

In Cloudesley Place is found Dove’s Yard. The images of birds on the gates might lead you to think that the name is merely fanciful. In fact, it was the name of a firm of builders, called Dove Brothers Ltd, which continued in business from 1781 to 1993 on this site.

A view through the gate

The site seems to have been developed as an exclusive residential property with little remaining of the original builders’ yard but Historic England has a a photo of the premises taken in 1918.

Cloudesley Road

Cloudesley Place leads into Cloudesley Road, bringing me onto virtually home territory and concluding my ramble.

Were you expecting a pigeon photo? Probably not but, just in case you were, here are the Culpeper Park pigeons in all their dusty glory: